It's impossible to listen to this record without waves of sadness passing over me. The record was released on November 17, 1980, and Lennon was murdered just three weeks later, on December 8th, 1980. The older generations remember where they were when JFK was murdered. I will never forget when and how I learned of Lennon's death. It will be forever burned into my brain. I don't think any other celebrity death affected me as much as Lennon's. Even now, after all of these years, I feel the same. It was a senseless tragedy.
The record was a huge success and I'd like to think that his untimely death had nothing to do with it. On the other hand, I have joked, from time to time, that the record should have been an EP. You know, eliminate tracks 2, 4 6 on side A and tracks 2, 4, 6, and 7 on side B. Then, you'd have a killer mini album. That may sound mean. I don't mind Ono's music, but her tracks seem more like filler here. An entire LP or her music could be fine, but I am not sure it works here.
For me, the key track is the lead off track, (Just like) Starting Over, which really seemed to have set the tone for where Lennon was going. It's doubly sad that he could have written such a positive, uplifting song, and then be gunned down for no reason.
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